What happened to Republicans in 2018 in Northern Nevada? Simply said: They won, we lost.

There wasn’t much or a lot we could do about it. In the end, there was no amount of messaging, field work, operational capacity or even money that could have changed the outcome on Tuesday Nov. 6. The Democrats in Washoe County and statewide outworked, outperformed, and outvoted Republicans in big margins (on average, 3 to 5 percent). They found a majority of Democrats, annoyed and disgusted Independents, and moderate and conservative Republicans to vote with them and got them to the polls.

A common theme from many conversations in all this, that pushing and promoting President Trump and his style of messaging (not the agenda of tax cuts, the economy, and achievements), was a toxic brew in Nevada that helped drive said voters towards the Democratic Machine to Jacky Rosen for U.S. Senate and Steve Sisolak for governor.

I have spent the following weeks talking to a lot of people about a lot of this. Naturally there are conflicting views of what happened here in Washoe County. From statewide office holders, consultants, party leaders, activists and even strangers coming up to me on the street, everyone has an opinion. The issue is, what happened?

Who lost Washoe County? Did infighting cost us Washoe, or are we a “blue” county? It appears to be a split decision from many. But nevertheless, due to size of turnout and margin of defeat, my answer is "no" across the board. I say that because of basic sums versus minuses. Republicans have the edge over Democrats in Washoe voter registration numbers, 99,782 to 94,606 (out of a total 269,251 registered voters).

In the 2016 presidential election, the Washoe and Nevada Republicans were coming from a net negative political position — little to no organization, no overall unity and plenty of dysfunction. The GOP had to ramp up to be in a fighting position in 2018, but still it was not enough. Compare that to the Washoe and Nevada Democrats: They never lost a beat, shrunk or turned off the machine from 2016, they in fact grew it in Washoe and Clark counties.

In an recent interview with Washoe County Republican Party Chairman Michael Kadenacy, I asked point-blank about the election results. He said "it's not our fault" and stated that Washoe County isn't a "blue" county. In four of the eight top-of-ticket races, the Republican outpolled the Democrat. Of the next 23 down-ballot races, Republicans took 19, including three positions flipped to a Republican.

Washoe GOP political affairs director Cole Azare shared this comment: "If you lost in Washoe, it wasn't because we didn't help you."

So as the holiday season goes on and the talk may turn from family to politics, here’s another perspective to ponder.

Don Dike-Anukam is a Northern Nevada college student, regional and local activist, political and news writer and an unabashed political and history geek.